Agitating device



Filed Oct. 13, 1958 n mm, m /Twmf /H/f n m H %m, w@ m w MA il Arfm wm H, mm MN I www. H im M W9 mv \m\\ Q f2/f /\N\ O 0 l' m... Nw( I\\\QN m w 2 A@ l@ n a. J. mIYW Patented Oct. 17, 1939 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE AGITATING DEVICE Robert H. Waller, Nashville, Tenn.

Application October 13, 1938, Serial No. 234,821

4 Claims.

This invention relates to agitating devices and pertains particularly to a whipping or agitating device designed for use as a cream whipper or the like.

The present invention has for its primary object to provid-e a rotary whipper or agitator which is so constructed that there will be set up a plurality of opposing or bucking currents in the material being agitated, whereby a more thorough mixing or whipping of the material will result with a less expenditure of energy than is possible with other mixing devices of a similar nature.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rotary agitator device in which a plurality of agitator blades are arranged in such a manner for rotation on a common axis that fluid in which the blades are moving will be moved downwardly from certain of the blades and upwardly from others of the blades whereby to set up opposing currents to eifec't a thorough mixing of the fluid? Still another object of the invention is'to provide in a rotary mixer or agitator, a novel rotary blade unit in which a plurality of integrally connected paddles are provided each of which has an opening formed therethrough from which extends downwardly and laterally a n member which operates to deflect fluid downwardly as it passes through the adjacent aperture of the paddle during the rotation of the blade, the blade being further provided withlower terminal paddles which are arranged to force the fluid upwardly against the downwardly directed currents set up by the ns.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a rotary mixer of the character described, a novel mounting. and assembly for a pair of rotatable paddle carrying blades with driving means coupling the same whereby the blades, arranged for interdigitating action of the'paddles, will rotate so that the paddles as they mesh will be moving or turning in the same direction.

A still further object of the invention is to provide in a rotary mixer a pair of blades arranged for rotation upon parallel axes and carrying a plurality of paddle members which are adjusted for interdigitating movement upon rotation of the blades and wherein the paddles of one blade extend obliquely with respect to the rotary axis thereof in a direction opposite to the obliquely directed paddles of the adjacent blade.

The invention willbe best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be 5 changed or modified so long as such changes or modiiications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through the mixer embodying the present invention and through a receptacle upon which the mixer is shown mounted.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View of the edge of the driving gear.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the numeral l generally designates a receptacle of suitable form upon which the agitating device embodying the invention may be mounted, the receptacle having a handle 2 for engagement by a portion of the device as hereinafter described.

The mixer or agitator unit comprises a plate 3 which is designed to serve as a cover for the receptacle and which carries a laterally extending arm 4 formed to engage the handle 2 of the receptacle through the medium of a pair of outwardly and downwardly curved ears 5 which are integral with the arm and which receive the upper part of the receptacle handle therebetween in the mannerl shown, thus facilitating holding the plate 3 in position at the same time that the handle 2 is grasped.

'Ihe numeral 6 generally designates a frame standing vertically upon the plate 3. This frame may be made of any suitable material but is preferably constructed of strap or band metal of suitable weight and such band material is bent in forming the frame so that there will be provided a bottom bar 'l having the upwardly extending end portions 8, each of which merges at its top in the inwardly extending short bar 9 which is spaced from and parallel with the lower bar l. Each of these short top bars merges at its inner end with the elongated vertical portion IU and these elongated portions are connected at their upper ends by the yoke I l. There are thus provided two laterally spaced lower frames and a central upper frame, the lower fram-es acting as bearings for shafts hereinafter described while the central upper frame serves as a support for a crank shaft I2 which extends transversely through the two upright portions I0 and which carries upon one end the crank handle I3.

Within the central upper frame of the main frame unit is a drive wheel I4 which is formed to provide the annular disk portion I5 from the periphery of which extends the transversely uted flange I6, the flutes of which are designated I'I and serve as gear teeth for operatively coupling the drive wheel I4 with the hereinafter described driven units.

Interposed between each of the short bars 9 and the underlying bar 'I of the main frame of the device is a sleeve I8, the upper end of which is provided to form a cup or race I9 for bearing balls 29, the mouth of the cup bearing against the underside of the adjacent bar 9 and the balls being held between this bar and the bottom of the cup, as shown. At the lower end, each sleeve I8 carries a similar bearing cup 2I which contacts with the adjacent bar 'I to retain between it and the bar the balls 22. Alined with the sleeves I8 are upper and lower apertures 23 and 24, respectively, formed through the bars 9 and 1, and the lower aperture 24 also alines with an opening 25 in the plate 3. These apertures are provided to receive the -ends of a shaft 26, the lower end of which extends a slight distance below the plate 3 and is slotted as indicated at 2l.

The shafts 26 are coupl-ed with the sleeves I8 by suitable transverse pins or in any other suitable manner, as indicated at 28, so that the sleeves and shafts must turn together and such turning is effected through the medium of the driven gears 29 encircling and formed integral with the lower ends of the sleeves I8, the teeth of these gears being upwardly and outwardly directed as shown, and being operatively coupled with the teeth Il of the main or driving gear I4.

Each shaft I8 has its lower end portion coupled with an agitator blade which is generally designated by the numeral 38. Each of these blades is preferably stamped from a single sheet or plate of metal and when so formed it has a central flat shaft portion 3l from the opposite edges of which extend the spaced paddles 32. The shaft portion of each blade has its upper end inserted into the slot 2l of the shaft 26 to Which it is attached and is secured in the slot in any suitable manner as, for example, by the use of the transverse pins 33.

In addition to the paddles 32 which are arranged in a group, there are formed at the upper end of the shaft portion 3l of the blade, the downwardly facing propeller paddles 34 while at the lower end of each blade the shaft portion thereof has two oppositely directed upwardly facing propeller paddles 35. These lower paddles 35 form the terminals for the blades and are angled with respect to the shaft portion of the blade by longitudinally slitting the blade between the ends of the paddles and then bending them so that they will have upwardly directed faces opposing the downwardly directed faces of the paddles 34, and they will operate when the blade is rotated to set up 1upwardly moving current forces in the fluid in which the blade is operating, whereas the upper propeller blades 34 are angled so that they will set up opposing or downwardly directed current forces in the fluid. The action of these upper blades 3d is augmented by two similarly formed propeller paddles 36 which are secured to the lower` end of the adjacent shaft 2B. Thus there will be four downwardly directed propeller paddles at the upper end of each blade 39 and two upwardly directed propeller paddles at the lower end thereof.

The paddles 32 of each blade are directed obliquely of the blade shaft portion SI and those of one blade are directed upwardly while the paddles 32 of the other blade are directed downwardly. In addition, the paddles 32 of the two blades, which may be referred to as the intermediate paddles, are arranged so that as the blades rotate, the intermediate paddles of one blade will pass between those of the adjacent blade and with the gear arrangement shown and described, it will be seen that one paddle blade will turn in a clockwise direction while the other will turn counterclockwise and thus where the paddle blades come into interdigitating relation during rotation, they will be moved in the same direction.

While each of the intermediate paddles has its wide side faces vertically arranged, each has an elongated opening formed therethrough as at 3l. In forming these openings, there is struck out from the paddle body 32 a rin 38 which is disposed oblique to the vertical face of the paddle from, which it is formed and is directed downwardly across the adjacent opening and these fins are pressed out from the rear sides of the paddles by which is meant the trailing sides when the blades are rotated. Thus it will be seen that asf the blades rotate, the fluid in the receptacle which passes through the openings 37 will strike the fins and be deflected downwardly in the same direction of ilow as that created by the propeller paddles 34 and 3 and in opposition to the flow created by the paddles 35 at the lower ends of the blades.

It will thus be seen that the construction of each blade is such that many conflicting currents will be set up in the fluid in which the blades are rotated, thereby bringing about a thorough mixing and agitation of the fluid. 'I'his construction, particularly with regard to the formation of the intermediate paddles 32 with openings and deector ns thereover, will eifect a thorough mixing of air into the liquid, thus making the device particularly suitable for whipping cream or other substances where it is desirable to work into the same as large a quantity of air as possible. r

In assembling the present device, the upper ends of the shaft portions 39 of the blades will rst be xed in the slots 21 of the shafts 25 and then, after placing the sleeves in position between the portions 9 and 'I of the frame structure, with the bearing balls interposed between the cups and the frame portions, the shafts 26 will be inserted through the openings 25 and into the sleeves. The securing or locking pins 28 will then be inserted through the previously provided openings in the sleeve and shaft to lock these two elements together. It will be understood, of course, that the main gears I4 will have been previously placed in position and that when the sleeves I3 are placed the teeth of the gears 29 will be properly meshed with the teeth of the gear I4.

In the use of the device, when the cover or plate 3 has been placed upon the receptacle, the ears 5 of the extended arm portion Il will engage over the handle 2 so that upon gripping this handle, the ears will also be covered by the hand and the receptacle and mixer will be held firmly in position. It will be noted that the blades 3D are of such length that when the plate 3 is in position upon the top of the receptacle, the lower edges of the upwardly directed paddles will come into relatively close proximity to the bottom of the receptacle thereby insuring the movement of all of the fluid in which the blades are rota-ting.

What is claimed is:

l. An agitator device of the character described, comprising a rotatably mounted shaft, means for supporting said shaft with a portion thereof within a receptacle, the portion of the shaft in the receptacle constituting an agitator blade, means for rotating said shaft, and a plurality of paddles carried by said shaft and extending laterally therefrom, said paddles being divided into an upper, an intermediate and a lower group,

the paddles of the upper group being formed to create a downward pressure in fluid in which the blade is immersed, the paddles of the lower group being formed to create an upward pressure in the fluid, and the paddles of the intermediate group having their faces in a common plane which is perpendicular to their direction of movement and being provided|with apertures through which the fluid is forced upon rotation of the blade.

2. An agitator device of the character described, comprising a rotatably mounted shaft, means for supporting said shaft with a portion thereof within a receptacle, the portion of the shaft in the receptacle constituting an agitator blade, means for rotating said shaft, a plurality of paddles carried by said shaft and extending laterally therefrom, said paddles being divided into an upper, an intermediate and a lower group, the paddles of the upper group being formed to create a downward pressure in fluid in which the blade is immersed, the paddles of the lower group being formed to create an upward pressure in the fluid, the paddles of the intermediate group being provided with apertures through which the fluid is forced upon rotation of the blade, and fluid deflecting fins carried by the paddles of the intermediate group and arranged oblique to the side faces of such paddles to extend partly across said apertures.

3. A mixer of the character described, comprising a pair of shafts, means rotatably supporting said shafts in spaced parallel relation, said supporting means facilitating the mounting of the shafts over an open top receptacle with the lower ends of the shafts extending downwardly thereinto, means common to both shafts for simultaneously rotating the same in opposite directions of rotation, the lower end of each of said shafts constituting a mixing blade, a plurality of paddles extending laterally from opposite sides of each mixing blade, the paddles being vertically spaced along the blade and the paddles of one blade being directed obliquely upwardly and the paddles of the other blade being directed obliquely downwardly, said blades being arranged whereby the paddles thereof will have interdigitating relation during rotation of the blades, each of said paddles having an elongated opening therethrough, a n member integral with each of said paddles and extending longitudinally thereof and extending from the paddle obliquely of the side face thereof and across the adjacent opening upon the trailing side of the paddle whereby a downward deflection of fluid passing through the opening will be obtained, and paddle members disposed at the upper and lower ends of the blades, said upper paddle members being arranged to deflect fluid downwardly and said lower paddle members being arranged to impel an upward flow of the uid upon rotation of the blades.

4. As an article of manufacture, an agitator blade for a mixer of the character described, comprising a body formed from a single flat sheet of material and having a longitudinally extending central portion, flat paddle arms extending oppositely from the two edges of the central portion and in the same plane therewith, said central portion at one end extending beyond the paddles and constituting means for attaching the blade to an operating unit, the opposite end of the central portion having two oppositely directed paddles which are separated at their adjacent ends by a slit extending from the adjacent end of the central portion longitudinally thereof a distance substantially equal to the width of the adjacent paddles, said paddles being bent at their point of connection with the central portion on a line extending transversely of the central portion whereby the vpaddles adjacent the said slit may be disposed in angularly related planes, and the said rst mentioned paddles each having a struckout portion providing an aperture therethrough bordered along one edge by a fin which is disposed at an angle to the adjacent paddle.

ROBERT H. WALLER. 

